Coaches Blog

Enjoy this insight from our former Women's National Team coach Greg Ryan on being a good coach.

Coaching players to develop to their full potential is more of an art than a science. Each aspect of player development must be addressed at the appropriate time and reinforced until it becomes second nature to the young player. The coach must allow the player the freedom to develop by learning from millions of experiences. The coach must resist the temptation to interrupt the players, realizing that learning takes place by experiencing the game.

Good coaches will create sessions in which the players are constantly playing the game whether it is 1vs. 1 or up to 11vs. 11. The exercises will look and feel just like the real game. The players will love these coaches for giving them back the game and allowing them to express themselves on the field. They will develop players who "feel" the game, rather than players who only "think" the game.

Good coaches provide feedback throughout the session usually without stopping the flow of play. Sometimes, they are cheerleaders, just shouting…."great pass". Sometimes, they have a quiet word in the flow of play to give a player an idea about how to solve a problem on the field. When they see a universal problem, they will stop the session, sort it out and restart as soon as possible.

A good coach does not try to solve every problem in each session. They understand that development whether individual or team is a long term process. They also understand that players can only assimilate a little information at a time, so they choose their comments carefully. In the end, it does not matter what the coach knows or says it only matters what the players can receive and implement.

The best chance a coach has to develop a player is to insure that they love the game. The best way to do this is to let them play the game.

In 2005, an operations manual was developed for the state technical directors. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 2: Job Responsibilities and the section on player development.

Development -The act or process of developing; unfolding; a gradual growth or advancement through progressive changes…

The truth is the majority of young players become what they were always going to be largely by their own efforts and a lot of straightforward encouragement. Playing an extraordinary number of matches will not alter that fact. Playing in more tournaments and conducting more or longer training sessions will not change this reality either.

Approximately one tenth of one percent will make it onto a National Team be it Youth, Olympic or the full National Team. According to the NCAA, only half of one percent of all college athletes will make it onto a professional team in any sport. The NCAA also estimates that only two percent of all high school players in all sports will go on to play college sports. The majority of players will come to full blossom as a player once in their 20's. Soccer is a long term athletic development sport. Starting to play on "teams" when barely out of diapers will not amend the time needed to grow physically and psychologically to become an accomplished player.

Since it will take approximately 20 years for a soccer player to develop, then a gradual stair step approach to playing adult soccer must be taken. While the players are in primary and secondary school the adults caring for their soccer experience and controlling their soccer environment must be patient with an eye to long term goals as well as short term objectives.

Fostering a love for the game and allowing talent to develop in a sane environment means a reasonable number of matches and training sessions for the age group, not the level of competition. The idea that, the game is the great teacher, has been misunderstood and/or misapplied. Some think if the axiom is true then more games are better. In fact the opposite is true – fewer games are better for youngsters. The axiom means the game will show a player how they have progressed. The game teaches players, through exposure, their strengths and weaknesses. Teach them how to play the game before they are asked to compete for wins. Let them play matches to learn how to compete and how to play in their pre-adolescent years. Eliminate State, Regional and National championships prior to age 15.

I had an interesting question from a parent of a youth player that steers us toward a piece of the player development puzzle.

"Why would a U-9 coach from a top program in this area allow and encourage her players to "cherry pick". There is no offside rule in U-9, but shouldn't coaches be working to educate the players on what is going to happen when Fall League starts? Or is it more important to get the win? Thoughts? Oh, as additional information, the referee is not allowed to instruct or stop the cherry picking from happening because it is a loop hole."

Telling players to "cherry pick" can indeed win games on the short term but it will delay competitive development in the long term. A forward on a U-12 or older team who "cherry picks" will find that she is often in a poor tactical position. Once the game becomes faster, and is played over larger fields in older age groups, the cherry picking player is disconnected from teammates who will now be unable to find her for passes. The cherry picking forward will often be in an offside position once opponents learn how to play the 'offside trap' as a tactical ploy. The tactical concept of compactness is much more important to present and future performance for these young players than the fleeting gains offered by cherry picking.

Finally, at elite levels of play forwards are required to contribute to defending when the other team has possession of the ball. The cherry picker will be out of position to contribute to the team effort to get the ball back. At elite levels of soccer when our team has the ball all players are expected to contribute to the attack and when the opponents have the ball all players are expected to defend.

U-10 Age Group - Law 11 Offside: there shall be no offside called during these games. This rule was put into place for the U-10 age group to make it easier for them to play a fluid game. Furthermore, the typical 9 or 10-year-old does not understand the many situations in which offside may or may not be called. In fact, many adults have a difficulty comprehending the shades of grey within this Law.

For the sake of keeping youngsters in the game for a lifetime, proper development through childhood and the teenage years is important. Taking shortsighted actions such as the "cherry pick" inhibits that development.

Recently, a coach of elite female players asked these questions of several colleagues looking for thoughts and ideas…

1.In the women's game, what is your strategy and organization for defending corner kicks?

2.What are your favorite activity/activities to introduce these ideas and concepts?

I replied that whether the team is female or male, one factor in defending against corner kicks that I see as a problem is the body posture of the defenders. Most players tend to stand with their hips squarely facing the ball. As the ball comes into the penalty area they are not in a good body posture to play a good ball out so that their clearance could become an outlet pass. This poor body posture often leads to bad tactical positioning too as they cannot see opponents or teammates behind them. Consequently, proper adjustments to their own positioning based on the movement, or lack thereof, by other players are not made.

I teach players to stand with their hips one quarter open to the field. In this way they can see the corner arc and the ball, as well as up field to see the movement of other players. Then, if they have the chance to connect with the ball, they should play the ball out in a manner that may help their own team start the counterattack.

Of course, being on their toes and alert mentally has a lot to offer here too.

As to training activities specifically on this matter, I simply play on a short field so we get more chances at corners and then emphasize the whole bit on hips and toes.